Barn swallow • Hirundo rustica

IdentificationThe barn swallow is a familiar, distinctive bird. Key characteristics to look for include the long, deeply forked tail, long, sharply pointed wings, and strongly contrasting colouring. It has a dark blue back, wings, and tail, with a rusty red throat and forehead, and white, light orange, or rust red undersides. It also has a dark breast band that separates the rust-red throat from the lighter-coloured chest. This band can be complete or incomplete. The colouring of males is more vivid than females. Both males and females are around 15-19 cm in length. Click here to hear the barn swallow's "twitter-warble" song. See the barn swallow ARKive page for more photos and videos.

Habitat & RangeBarn swallows spend the summer breeding months in North America, and the winter months in Central and South America. They feed on insects while in flight, and so can often be found flying in open areas such as meadows, parks, and near roadsides, or around wet areas like marshes, ponds, and shorelines. They tend to make their distinctive mud nests (in or under human-made structures such as barns, sheds, and bridges.

Find more information at the British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas here.

Similar SpeciesCliff and cave swallows can have similar colouring, but their wings and tails are shorter than those of barn swallows, and their tails are missing the distinctive broad fork. They are also missing the dark-coloured breast band.

Intriguing InfoThe antics of barn swallows in flight can be fun to watch - they dart and weave through the air, make rapid dives and turns, and can snag insects from just about the ground or water while in flight. These antics are on display in the videos below.

Barn swallows used to nest in caves, but now almost all nesting sites are found on human-made structures. The one exception is a population in the Channel Islands.

The killing of barn swallows for the use of their feathers in hat-making indirectly led to the founding of the Audubon Society in the late 1800's. Read more about this story, how to attract barn swallows to your yard, and more cool facts on the All About Birds barn swallow page.